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Friday, October 18, 2013

Pope Francis Roundup

News

Who Advises the Pope?, by Marco Tosatti. La Stampa "The Vatican Insider" 10/18/13. "Here are the portraits of the cardinals, bishops, priests and one woman – Francesca Immacolata Chaoqui –whom the Pope talks and listens to."

Traditionally, the papal almoner sends parchments with the papal blessing to those who request them, and with the proceeds, as well as with other offerings, he sends a “modest donation” to those in need. The papal almoner also accompanies the Pope at official appearances and during international trips.

But under Pope Francis, Archbishop Krajewski's role is about to change.
Since both Archbishop Krajewski and Msgr. Ravelli have been part of the office of the papal master of ceremonies, it appears that Pope Francis wishes to mark his pontificate with a sort of “liturgy of the poor.”

Archbishop Krajewski recounted to L'Osservatore Romano Oct. 4 that Pope Francis immediately explained to him the way he wanted to re-design his office.

“You will not stay behind a desk signing parchments,” the Holy Father told the archbishop. “I want you always among the people. In Buenos Aires, I often went out in the evening to go find the poor. Now, I no longer can: It is difficult for me to leave the Vatican. You will do it for me.”

...In his remarks, Cardinal Bertone paid tribute to Pope Benedict, whom he served for more than six years as secretary of state, and for more than seven years at the Vatican's doctrinal office under then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

"What stirred our passion with Pope Benedict XVI was to see the church understand itself deeply as a communion, and at the same time speak to the world, to the heart and to the intelligence of all with clarity of doctrine and a high level of thought," the cardinal said.

The retired pope "suffered greatly on account of the ills that plagued the church, and for this reason he gave her new legislation in order to strike out decisively the shameful phenomenon of pedophilia among the clergy, without forgetting the initiation of new rules in economic and administrative matters," he said.

"I see today in Pope Francis not so much a revolution but a continuity with Pope Benedict XVI even with their differences in style and personal life," the cardinal said, noting in particular the strong devotion to Mary -- and particularly Our Lady of Fatima -- that he said united the two pontiffs.

Francis appoints a Brazilian to the “bishop factory”, by Andrea Tornielli. La Stampa "The Vatican Insider" 10/12/13. The Pope has chosen a new Secretary for the Congregation for Bishops: Monsignor Ilson De Jesus Montanari who up until now has been the Congregation’s minute taker.

Pope Francis spoke again of the devil at today’s mass in St. Martha’s House, inviting faithful to take the Scriptures that mention the devil, seriously. The text Francis commented on today was a passage from Luke’s Gospel, which says that Jesus casts out demons but is not understood by the people.

“There are some priests who, when they read this Gospel passage, this and others say: ‘But, Jesus healed a person with a mental illness’. They do not read this, no? It is true that at that time, they could confuse epilepsy with demonic possession; but it is also true that there was the devil! And we do not have the right to simplify the matter, as if to say: ‘All of these (people) were not possessed; they were mentally ill’. No! The presence of the devil is on the first page of the Bible, and the Bible ends as well with the presence of the devil, with the victory of God over the devil,” Francis said.

There are several ways to interpret Bishop Fellay’s remarks on Francis. At one level they’re not particularly exciting, at least to the extent that they largely repeat well-word traditionalist criticisms of not just Francis, but several of the post-Vatican II popes. At another, though, they are downright shocking insofar as Fellay, for the first time that I am aware, has ever referred to any pope as “a genuine modernist.” Keep in mind that from the Society’s point of view, “modernism” is not just some rhetorical jab; it is an accusation of heresy. As St. Pius X stated in Pascendi, modernism is “the synthesis of all heresies.” This is why Pius X, along with several subsequent pontiffs, required Catholic bishops and priests to take an Oath Against Modernism. Though the “modernist” label was discarded after Vatican II, it remains, in the eyes of the Society and most traditional Catholics, a heresy no less malicious than Arianism, Nestorianism, Sabellianism, etc. Fellay, it seems, has called the present Pope “a genuine heretic,” a charge which not even the indefatigable Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais leveled against Pope Benedict XVI when the former penned a book attacking B16’s (Joseph Ratzinger) alleged heretical writings. (When questioned, Tissier de Mallerais backed off from calling the former pontiff a heretic, though he remained steadfast that some of Ratzinger’s writings contain heretical statements.)

... There is reason to believe, however, that far from being an evangelist of modernity, Francis is precisely one of its greatest critics. And that by wooing its strongest proponents, Francis is knee deep in a campaign to root out errors, identified by previous popes, at their core.